Chapter Seven

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One more point… one more hit…

I could feel the sweat slowly drip through the soaking cloth on my head… it only made the environment in the mask hotter.

There was a crowd watching, but I wasn’t focusing on my peripherals… he inched forward… his grip shifted a little, probably due to his sweaty palms inside his gloves. I studied my environment. He still had one more step before I had to make a decision.

The tension grew.

I didn’t want there to be any doubt in the minds of my peers. It needed to be a perfect match. No hits for the opponent. I needed to end this without getting hit.

But all those months had rendered my endurance. I was panting inside that mask of mine… I checked his left… nothing… stable… his footwork was impeccable… I wouldn’t be able to push him with my hilt guard against him.

I couldn’t hit his body from the left…

Or… wait…

Time stopped. His hand… his right hand was one that slipped… it was that one that moved as his tightened his grip.

There it was… that was opening…

All I had to do now was wait.

Wait for him to make one more step and as he attacked, I would hit his shinai first, and then go for a body strike… it was a hard move to do… but if I could pull it off, that all that I would need. I needed that distance though… the striking point of my blade had to so far… I had to back step…

Then suddenly… time returned… the soft silence of murmurs and footsteps returned to me.

The figure in front of me moved.

There was speed, incredible speed. But my old reflexes kicked in.

A flash… a hissing sound cleaved the air around me. My shinai met his. I studied the angle at the point of impact.

“SHINAI!” I called, as the hit was made at 90 degrees, my right leg stomped, his arm gave way, the shinai weaved to the right forcing an opening in that one space.

A quarter of a second passed.

“WAIST!” The second hit came from the side, again from the top, a high guard stance, and then it cracked.

My shinai. It cracked. My foot hit the ground, everything was fine. Except, my shinai shattered against his armor. It exploded, the shards flew across the sparring deck. There was silence.

A deadly silence in the air.

The referee stood up.

Silence.

“Takahashi, Hiro… Winner.”

I sighed.

My opponent and I returned to our ready positions. Rested our shinai at our sides… back five paces and bowed to each other.

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I had made the team… I sat outside the dojo building on the east wing of Mihara.

Alone…

The sun was still high… the sweat had now all by dried, and the cool breeze hitting against my ruffled clothing was refreshing. My belongings in the bag next to me and my shinai, now broken, I still put away it its leather carrying case. I would have to go and get another one.

The silence around me disturbed me.

I was beginning to hate being alone…

Every time, every time I was sitting somewhere, standing somewhere alone… the pain would return. I looked in front of my to the empty path to the center school courtyard. I could hear the faint voices of the students in the various clubs…

I didn’t want to be alone.

Where… where… where was Fumiko.

I didn’t see her in the dojo… she wasn’t watching.

Where… was…

“Takahashi-kun!”

The voice broke the silence. It wasn’t Fumiko though.

I turned around.

And a small girl was standing next to me. She looked about my age, and she was in the Mihara uniform like myself, but she was small.

I frowned.

I stood up to meet her, and lightly bowed.

“You were amazing! I saw your spar with the captain! To think we had someone like you on the team before!”

I frowned.

“I’m sorry do I know you.”

She smiled and blushed a little.

“Oh, that’s right,” she bowed slightly, “I don’t think we’ve met before, my name is Hioshi, Mai, Fumi-chan has told me so much about you.”

Fumiko? Mai? Wait… I thought for a moment… Fumiko had told me something about her friend Mai… on the Kendo team also if I remembered correctly.

“Mai…” I thought out loud for a moment, “You’re on the kendo team also too right?”

Hard to believe… she was really short to be on the team, you had to be in the upper classes of kendo to have the skill to make the team… but… I frowned.

She nodded, “Yup, glad Fumi-chan didn’t forget to mention her best friend to her new boyfriend.”

Pause. Pause.

“BOYFRIEND!” I shouted.

Mai’s eyes opened wide… and covered her mouth.

I frowned and looked at her...

Mai laughed nervously…

“About that… don’t worry… that… that… was just a joke.”

I didn’t let her go that easily.

“I never agreed to such a thing…”

Mai quickly tried to save herself in the predicament.

“No, no… it’s just…”

“What else has she said?” I said angered.

“Nothing… it was just a…”

“You know something don’t you?”

“No…”

“Where is that Fumiko anyways!”

“She’s at practice…”

“Practice! What practice?”

“She’s with the school orchestra… she plays the violin.”

Pause.

I didn’t know that…

Mai looked at me a little frightened… bit still with a smirk on her face.

I glared at her.

“Hey! You two!” The voice echoed all across the courtyard. And there she was… speak of the devil… Fumiko came running with her violin case in hand and her book bag… I never knew… music…

She came up to us panting.

And then she looked up… and smiled at me…

I couldn’t stay mad… there was such warmth from that smile…

“Looks like you two met.” Fumiko said with a smile.

“Fumiko -” I tried to ask something, but suddenly I was cut off.

“Yeah, and you missed his match dummy!” Mai looked at Fumiko nervously sending some sort of girly message as not to bring up this particular situation again.

I sighed… she was probably right… it was pointless to ask… and even more pointless to ask Fumiko anything here.

“I tried to get off earlier, but the practice went on longer than expected.” Fumiko smiled at me and bowed, “Sorry.”

I shook my head… “It’s alright…”

“Yeah, but Hiro made it.”

Fumiko jumped up, “Really!” She smiled at me, “Congratulations! I knew you would!”

And then… she held out her hand to Mai and a wide smile on her face.

Mai looked a little disgusted…

And slowly went into her pocket to pull out her wallet. And handed over a 5000 yen bill to Fumiko. She smiled and laughed with glee.

“Alright! Let’s go celebrate! It’s on Mai today!”

I shook my head.

“You really did make a bet on me…”

“Of course!” Fumiko smiled, “if I lost, it was coming out of your work commission too.”

I shook my head and sighed.

Mai smiled too.

“At least he’s really good, he can probably even challenge the captain at that, certainly not a loss to Mihara’s team.”

“I would never challenge the captain.” I said very seriously

Both Mai and Fumiko looked at me…

Silence.

“Its not like me, don’t worry about it…let’s go.”

Fumiko smiled.

Mai smiled too.

It was warming…

I looked up at the sky…

Not alone…

Not alone…

I’m not alone.